Elizabeth Solomon, after the Responsive keynote — 'structures protect a mission when people are tired or afraid AND people with inner steadiness are what keep structures from becoming theater'

Elizabeth Solomon — executive coach and writer, who publishes with Daniel Goleman — heard Eric at Responsive Conference and sets the book's structural argument alongside the inner-capacity argument she and Goleman made in a piece on the AI race earlier in the month. Her synthesis is that the two need each other: governance holds when people are depleted, and steady people are what stop governance becoming theatre.

“At the Responsive Conference last week, I heard Eric Reis talk about Incorruptible, his book on why good companies drift from their mission once they succeed. There was a lot happening in that room -- his words were provocative, honest and data driven. His focus is on structure: how governance and ownership that can hold a mission steady when the pressure comes. This nods back to a piece Daniel Goleman and I published earlier in the month on the AI race. Knowing your values and acting on them when money, speed and competition are bearing down are two different capacities. The second one takes emotional work: noticing what's actually driving a decision, staying steady when fear shows up, making it safe for someone to say "stop." Put together, we could say structures protect a mission when people are tired or afraid AND people with inner steadiness are what keep structures from becoming theater.” — Elizabeth Solomon on LinkedIn